Greek Judge says Little Nobel is no Smart rip off
As we’ve said before two years ago, only the design is similar, but everything else about the Little Nobel is different than the Smart car, and dare we say it, a better designed car all around, but severely lacking in the quality dept:
In March 2008, China’s Shuanghuan (SH) Auto presented the Noble to the Greek media. The two-door may look like Daimler’s Smart, but there are crucial differences. The three meter long Chinese vehicle can can carry up to four people; Daimler’s mini (not MINI) mobile seats two. The Noble is a front-engined, front wheel-drive car with a unibody structure; the Smart’s engine is underfloor with a rear-biased drivetrain, built around a “Tridion” safety cage. Yes, well, in April 2008, Daimler’s crack legal team moved quickly to prevent import and sales of the [alleged] Chinese Smart clone. This week, a judge struck down Daimler’s case.
“Common sense prevailed” according to the Judge’s final ruling. “The impression the Noble makes on a third and informed party by its visual appearance is different to the one that is made to the same person by the Smart . . . It is commonly accepted that the decision over buying a new car cannot be based only on the exterior characteristics but many other technical specifications such as the power of the engine, fuel consumption, trim specification, retail price and dealers’ network.”
From the Truth About Cars
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Has anyone got sales figures for the Little Nobel? Ive only ever seen 4/5 on the roads. I always thought it was overpriced compared to the Chang’an Ben Ben, QQ, and now later offerings like the BYD F0.
lol Italian and Greek judges come to a consensus
The link to the original post is broken.
Greece is very competitive – you can probably buy a rulling in your favour in Greece at a better price tnan anywhere else in the ‘older’ EU – of course I’m not suggesting that that has anything to do with this case.
We’ve seen recently how poorly the Smart performs in crash tests despite its Tridion safety cage. We can only imagine how the Noble will do.
too late , the negative perception had been created.
Based on prior European rulings, the piracy case is established only when Chinese knock-offs are indistinguishable from the originals they copy. Thus Shuanghuan may escape piracy charges based on technicality.
However, what Shuanghuan doesn’t understand is that they are damaging their own brand’s reputation in the process, as well as China as whole. If Chinese government was smart, they would ban export of clone cars that would destroy reputation of China as whole.
Hi Ash, I made a list of lawsuits on my website:
http://www.chinesecars.net/index.php?page=59
greetings! Erik
great…
they are legalizing intellectual property theft now